Title: Misfits and Magic
GM: Aabria Iyengar
Players: Erika Ishii (she/they/any) as K (she/they/any). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Whitney Jammer (he/him). Danielle Radford (she/her) as Sam Black (she/her). Brennan Lee Mulligan (he/him) as Evan Kelmp (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout

Having arrived on the strange island where Gowpenny has moved, our Pilot Program protagonists take in the floating chunks of land, lava waterfalls, and a general haze. The island appears to be a hellscape. Sam and K excitedly ask Tabby for help, and the magical stone reveals the island to be Galamanis, a place for invocation and making that which is not.

As Jammer expresses distrust, Evan immediately backs up his friend, attempting to cut Tabby’s shadow for magical possession, but feeling a strange viscosity to the magic around them, Evan reduces his work to merely removing them physically without taking a sense of magical ownership of the stone.

Amphibious creatures rise from the magma. Jammer calls out, but his friendly approach fails as his voice draws the monsters’ attention to the group, sending the team into combat. Though hesitant to reveal his struggles, Evan tries to hold back his violent impulse until Jammer calls for help. K also leaps into action, getting beaten when one of the lava monsters dodges around Evan to get to her.

Using his wand as a Super Soaker, Jammer freezes some of the lava amphibians in place as their fiery bodies solidify. K escapes the amphibian’s hold, hurting herself in the process; however, while the rest of Misfits manage to get their feet under them in the fight, Evan loses himself to the violence. When his friends pull him back, they all notice his shadow has returned.

Evan threatens his shadow, but the unusually obedient shade simply gestures toward their next approaching problem – Tallulah Jillymont.

Tallulah explains the amphibians are called Hellbenders. After a momentary stand-of, Jammer bridges the gap with one of Tallulah’s members, Victor.

Evan and K speak with Rev, another member of Tallulah’s group who gets around in a magical sled that forms ice beneath it. Rev reveals that there are a few hundred on the island, finding themselves called to the hellish place and discovering magic all the more possible while there even without wands. Rev draws Rhonda into the conversation with K, which pisses off Tallulah, who storms ahead.

Victor and Rev guide them to where the island’s inhabitants live. The skies are clearer, and there are waterfalls as the fire clears though the area remains rocky. Voices carry down from the floating sections. Jammer manages to launch himself up smoothly, but when Sam accelerates too fast, Evan grabs his broom and zooms ahead to catch her. The two have a heart-to-heart, and as Sam expresses concern, Evan admits how much he missed her.

Arriving in the Aerie, the Misfits regroup at the hot springs. T2 does some heavy lifting, getting the crew towels, clothes, and food. However, in an attempt to force the healing properties of the hot springs to go beyond their normal limitations, K explodes Evan’s arm from his body.

Highlights

Brennan has a talent for describing something so logically which absolutely emotionally wrecks anyone listening. Evan internalizing that he needed good shoes to not be immediately recognized as struggling could have easily passed by as a nuance of his existence as a transient teen destined for darkness who managed to escape, but the weight and careful importance placed underlines how much Evan hasn’t escaped. The mental scars remain.

Final Score (5 out of 5 Stars)

Lava amphibians, the ever-annoying stuck-up Tallulah, and a bunch of big dreams go south in this episode, but our band of Misfits reconnect, falling back into sync, but as Sam slowly uncovers the horrors Evan has hidden away, K fumbles a bit too hard. Her desperation to fix Evan may be a reference to the early days of their relationship, but it brings up a number of questions as to how their relationship truly fell apart.

I’m not sure if anyone had Tallulah on their bingo board, but we should’ve seen her coming. Even if she can never have a wand again, there’s no world where she doesn’t throw herself into the thick of it to everyone else’s detriment. Let us know what you think will happen to Evan’s arm in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation!

Featured Image: Dimension 20

The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network

The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord. 

New episodes of The Boss Rush Podcast release every Monday morning on YouTube and all major podcast applications like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Patreon supporters gain one week early access. 

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